Missouri S&T students build competition-ready canoe out of concrete

Missouri S&T News and Events

The Concrete Canoe Design Team races their canoe at Little Prairie Lake on Saturday April 23, 2016. Sam O’Keefe/Missouri S&TStudents from Missouri University of Science and Technology have built a 250-pound canoe out of concrete and will prove that it floats during the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2017 Mid-Continent Student Conference.
The Missouri S&T Concrete Canoe Design Team will showcase its canoe and compete against other regional universities at the conference, which will be held April 21-22, at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
For the competition, students must design a “lightweight” concrete canoe that can remain buoyant when completely submerged in water, is strong enough to hold several paddlers and can easily maneuver through the water.
After passing a “swamp test,” designed to test the buoyancy of the canoe, the team will then race it in head-to-head short-distance and endurance events.
Each team is also judged on its engineering reports, a presentation and displays that illustrate the manufacturing process.
This year, Missouri S&T’s canoe was built using a mold that was repurposed mold from a previous year. It is approximately 18 feet long, 2.5 feet wide and 15 inches deep. The canoe is made of a mixture of Portland cement – the same material found in sidewalks – ceramic air-filled bubbles, carbon fiber and repurposed coal ash.
To learn more about the team, visit facebook.com/MissouriSTConcreteCanoe.
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